Color television systems



H. ANTRANIKIAN 2,744,953

COLOR TELEVISION SYSTEMS 2 Sheets-Sheet l May '8, 1956 Filed Jan. 28, 1952 INVENTOR.

May 8, 1956 H. ANTRANIKlAN coLoR TELEVISION sYsTEMs 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Jan. 28, 1952 um NW United States Patent() 2,744,953 COLOR TELEVISION SYSTEMS Haig Antranikian, Lakewood, N. J.

Application January 28, 1952, Serial No. 268,610

9 Claims. (C1. 17a-5.2)

This invention relates to improvements in color television systems. More particularly, the invention is concerned with systems of the type in which a camera or picture tube is provided with a photosensitive or phosphorescent screen having a large number of parallel narrow strips for responding to or reproducing a number of component colors.

It is an object of the invention to provide a color synchronizing system in a television transmitting or receiving apparatus of the character indicated, wherebyfexact color tracking may be obtained with apparatus and circuits of a simple character.

lIn my previous application, Serial No. 251,933, filed October 1 8, 1951, for Color Television Systems, I have described a system in whichcolor synchronizing pulses derived from the scanning of a photosensitive or phosphorescent screen by the electron beam itself are utilized for switching the video output so as to produce and reproduce desired color components in a desired order. The present application is directed to a modiiication or improvement on the system there disclosed, in which the movement of the electron beam itself is controlled in accordance with its own motion across the photosensitive 2,744,953 Patented May 8, 1956 ICC sociated with each set of strips a conductor 7 extending parallel to the strips and either lying on or incorporated of the signal from the multivibrator 17, and it will`de velop output only in accordance with the signal supplied or phosphorescent screen, causing the beam to dwell upon strips corresponding to the desired component colors in a predetermined order and sequence. Such System may be used independently or may be combined with the control of video output according to myv said prior applica;- tion, or with a ,blanking or suppression of the electron b eam, as desired.

' A color television system embodying the invention in a preferred `form will now first be described with reference to theVv accompanying drawing, and the features forming the invention will then be pointed out the appendedl claims. v v

Figure 1 is a schematic of a transmitting systemembodying the invention in a preferred form;

Figure 2 is a schematic of a receiving system also ernbodying the invention in a preferred form; 'y f Figures 3` and 4 are schematics, respectively similar to Figures 1 and 2, but showing a modified form of theinvention.

ln Figure 1 there is indicated in phantom at 1 an iconoscope or camera tube, with which there is. associated a horizontal deection coil, indicated schematically, at 3, causing the horizontal movement of the electronV beam 4 emitted by a cathode 5 across a photosensitive screen.

assembly, indicated generally at 6.

The screen comprises a number of parallel strips R, B

and G, for responding to the component colors selected,l

into the surface of the screen, these strips forming an electrical grid and being connected to a commonl terminal 8. Voltage developed in the grid elements 7 isy utilized in a manner explained hereinafter, for controlling the color synchronization.

The details of a suitable screen and grid structure are in general well known in themselves, and as they are described more particularly in my aforementioned application, such details will not be repeated herein.

The voltage developed inthe conductor 8 is applied through a connection 9 to they input of an amplifier and` phase shifter, indicated in block format 10, shown and described more in detail in my aforementioned application, and which develops output signals applied through, conductors 11, 12 and 13 to control grids of the vacuum tubes Vb, Vg and Vr. There is also applied to a second control grid of each of these tubes through the connections 14, 15 and 16 a color shifting signal from the keyed multivibrator, indicated in block form at 17, and which is controlled through connection 18 by synchronizing signals taken from the emitter, indicated in block form at'19. yIt will be understood that the emitter indicated at 1,9 includes the usual circuits for amplifying and transmitting the video signal as Well as the circuits for `develcping the horizontal and vertical sync pulses and blanking pulses. f Since these pulses may, in general, be similar to those developed vand used in the present standard signal, apart from modifications which will bevobvious,'descrip tion of these known circuit elements is omitted herefrom.

The tubes Vg, etc. are connected and arranged so as to pass a signal only when positive signal is applied to both the grids mentioned. The particular tube which is to develop output at any given instant is selected by means grid for the vacuum tube V. The output of this tube is applied across deection electrodes 22 and 23 of the iconoscope 1 and serves to regulate the movement of the electron beam as later described.

The detlecting effect of the electrodes 22 and 23 may be regulated as by adjusting the setting of potentiometery 24.' Blanking voltage may also be applied to the gridl 25 of the iconoscope `1, by inserting in the line 26 leading thereto a secondary 27 of a transformer having its primary 28 included in the plate circuit of the tube V, as indicated. i l

n A 'great variety of different types of color synchronization'and fof color shift sequences may be employed, as indicated in detail in my prior application above referred to. For simplicity, it will be assumed that thesystem used is line sequential and that all red strips vof a given line will be scanned or transmitted, all blue strips of the next lineand all green strips of the followinglline, this action being repeated with suitable interlace so that when the first line is again scanned, the blue stripswill be transmitted instead of the red and so on. For such system, it is appropriate that the voltages in the conductors r11, 12 and 13 consist of three phase pulses corresponding in frequency to the scanning of the grid conductors 7 by the electron beam, in duration to approximately one third of thetime required for the electron beam to pass from one conductor 7 "to the next, and that they be displaced in phase by approximately or corresponding to the spacing of the strips R, B and G, if not of equal widths. The pulses'supplied by `the keyed multivibrator 17 will be of duration corresponding tothe time required to scanone' line of "the screen and will likewise be displaced 1'20'Jv inphase.

There may thus be produced in the input to the pulse shaper 20, during the scanning of any line, a succession of pulsesrin accurately timeclE relationship to the passage of" the; ele'otron beamf'l across aJ grid conductor elementv '7,' the phase or thetimeof commencementofthe'input'pulse varying, however, in accordance-with whichY of the4 tubes Vr, etc. is activeat the time;y The' pulse'shaperltl may direction. This'balances andJ nulliiiesA the' eife'ct' ofthe ux of" the' deectio'n' coil 3, so thatduring'the duration of a pulse, the movement ofthe beam is` stopped. It' will be apparent that by a suitable adjustment' otl phase of the signals, and of the lagandlead thereof, the movement of thei beam may besto'pped so that` it will rest on astrip of desiredfcolor during the' duration' of the pulse.

As the voltagedrops from'maximum to minimum value between pulses, the deector-plates 22' and 23 will, of course, operate' to'accelerateY the movement ofthe beam, assisting thedeection coil 3 rather than opposing it, and

restoring the required average rate of travel of the beam across thescreen. At the same time, the changing current throug'hprimary 28 induces a voltage, applied' to grid 25 through line 26, which may be utilized, where desired, to blank theelectron beam during'the movement' to' the corresponding strip of the next set of strips. Since the beam stopping portion of the sawtooth pulse will be of comparativelylong duration (as, for example, 90% or so of the e'ntirepulse interval), the circuit constants may readily bejselected so as not to affect the grid 25 to any objectionable extent during the stopping of the' beam.

Itk will be apparent that the system of the presentinvention is characterizedbyan' absolute locking of the colo'rtra'cking of the tube and that the' lag, lead and fre,- quency may readily be adjusted'to produce perfectsynchronis'nr without affecting or upsetting any other circuits involved' in the transmitter.

` Tlfieforegoing descriptionisbased on the supposition that the slope of the beam stopping pulse is equal to that of the horizontal sweep sawtooth, but opposite in sign.

Whileth'is relation' is ordinarily preferred, the inventionv mayalso be applied utilizinga variety of other forms of` pulse; For example, the pulse may be' of less slope than the sweep sawtooth', causing the beamto decelerate so as dwell predominantly'on the desired strip. It is also possible with higher slope of the pulse to cause some retrograde movement of the beam. In particular, variation in circuit components from time to time may be expected tov change' the relation of the pulse Wave formto that of the sweep sawtooth, and it will be apparentv that the system is capable of tolerating such changes as may be' expected to occur, so that the operationis in no way critical.

While the system has been described as applied toa camera tube of the iconoscope type in' which the photosensitive screen isscanned directly by the electron beam, itis' also applicable to camera tubes,` typified by the soc'alle'd image orthicon tube, in which thephotosensitive screen is scanned indirectly, the electron beam sweeping across'an electronic image of the picture on thesc'reen and formed on an intermediate target. Insuch' case, it will be preferable to utilize augmented video signal for one of the component colors (which may be produced by auxinstead of a grid or similar expedient' cooperatingwith 4. the screen. As will be apparent, this type of color synchronizingsignal-may also be` used'with direct scanning of' the photosensitive screen. Within the scope of the invention, any of these expedients for generating pulses in the electron beam itself as it scans the various color strips directly or indirectly may be used and without affecting substantially the operation of the system. With most methods of generating the color synchronizing pulse, it Will be found desirable not to blank the electron beam entirely during its movement between pauses, but to maintain a suiiicient beamstrength'for pulsel generation while reducing the beam strength sufficiently to avoid undesired video signal for color' reproduction. As willY het understood, in many cases no reduction whatever in the beam strength may be required, the reduction of video output involved in speeding up the movement across unwanted strips being entirely suicient.

While the system has been described as utilizing, an electronic switchingsystem, inwhich one ofthe tubes Vr, etc. is made conductive while the other two are made non-conductive, it will be apparent that this operation may be reversed; In such case, for. example, in scanning a given linethe red andblue component strips ofeach' set'm'ay produce video output while theV video output of the green strip is suppressed. The color omitted changingin the course of the scanning according to the desired sequential system, instead ofthe color transmitted; andl the pulse supplied to the electrodes 22' and 2?:y being variedv to suit the sequence and type oftransmission desired'.

The system has been described with reference to. a camera tube utilizingmagnetic deflection for the. linesweep, andv electrostaticl auxiliary deflection for stopping. or controlling movement of the electron beam for color selection. As will'be apparent, the substitution ofv electrostatic line sweep deect'ion would make no signiicant change in the system, nor would' the substitution of electromagnetic auxiliary deflection. Insome cases, itmay' be preferredv to apply the color selecting or auxiliaryA deflection voltage or current to the line sweep deflection coils or electrodes themselves, and'this may also be done in appropriate cases.

The receiving system will comprise video receiving circuits of generally conventional type indicated in block diagram form at 1.1`9`in Figure 2 of the drawing, to gether with color synchronizing equipment generally similar to that used inthe transmitter. The picture tube isv indicated schematically at 101, the line sweep of theV electron beam 104 from cathode 105 being producedl by the deflection coil' 1031 The phosphorescent screen 106 has associated'with it grid elements 107 connected to a common terminal 108, one suchv element being providedfor each set of threet color strips. a set are adaptedto reproduce diierent colors eitherby selection of' suitable phospho'rs or by use of suitable light lteringmaterial, as" more fully described in my above mentionedapplication.- The voltage developed in. thegrid wires 107 by the electronV beam passing across them is communicatedthrough line 109 to an amplifier and phase shifter" as in the' transmitter, connections 111, 112 and 113 applying the outputof the amplifier and phase shifter to 'control gridsoffthetubesWr, Wb andWg. The signals applied to'these grids willh'ave the same p ha'se" relationshipsA as in thecase'ofthe* transmitter. The keyedimultivibrators,v indicated at 117; maybe controlled by any-'suitab'lesynchronizin'g' signal taken from' the receiverci'rcuit 119 and produce pulses'corresponding" to the pulse produced by' thecorre'spondingelement 17` in the' transmitter. As' inthe transmitter, the' tubes: Wr, etc., willproduce output only when positive signal is applied to2 both grids.y The output of'4 these tubes is' communicated through' pulse' shaper'120 to thecontrol" gridot the tube' W, the" output off which is' applied to`` the beamcontrolling" or stopping. electrodes122 and 123, so' a`s-` to` stop the"v beam on; a'

desired strip" for' synchronizing the color reproductionl The strips ofbeutilized to apply a blanking voltage to the grid 125 during the movement of the beam across strips corresponding to colors not to be reproduced. As in my above mentioned application, the video signal may be expanded in point of time so as to insure a video signal corresponding to desired color will be present during the scanning of the corresponding color strip of the screen.

While the invention has been described as applied to a line sequential system, it is not restricted to use with such system, but may be utilized with any of a variety of sequential systems as described more fully in my aforementioned application.

As will be apparent, the present invention permits the production of video signal during 90% or so of the time while'still selecting colors in proper sequence, and thus permits the production of a stronger and more continuous image in contrast to most color systems, in which the time of production of the video signal is reduced in accordance lwith 'the number of colors being transmitted and received.

The system of the invention is also applicable to multiple gun tube transmission and reception, and a system gmbodying the invention in such form is shown in Figures and 4.

The system is similar to that previously described, and in which two colors may be transmitted or receivedduring the scanning of a line, the third color being omitted, but provides for scanning the two colors to be transmitted simultaneously instead lof in succession. Apart from the arrangements which are made necessary, due to the fact that more than one electron beam is utilized, the system in the modified form of Figures 3 and 4\ is similar to that previously described, so that it is necessary for a complete understanding of the invention merely to describe the modifications involved in adapting to multiple gun operation.

There is indicated in Figure 3 a camera tube or iconoscope, generally similar to that described in Figure l, but having the photosensitive screen 6 in grid 7--8 containing a number of cyclically repeated strips for reproducing three component colors. The line sweep deflection may be accomplished by a deflection coil 3, as before, and similar auxiliary dellection electrodes 22 and 23, together with beam blankiug grid 25, may be used. Two electron guns, the cathodes 53 and 54 of which are indicated, are provided for supplying the two electron beams 51 and 52, which may be spaced apart so as to scan two strips at a time. Conveniently, the first and third color strips may be scanned simultaneously, the electron beams being spaced apart so as not to scan the second color strip. The video output from conductor 57, shown as connected to the voltage divider indicated in block form at P, will, in general, be different with respect to the two cathodes, and the video outputs developed in the resistors 55 and 56 are applied to control grids of the two tubes V1 and V2, the output of which is fed to the emitter, indicated at 19, through lines 58 and 59. Transmission of the two video signals may be simultaneous, utilizing two carriers, or may be effected by a sampling system or in any other convenient way.v The voltage developed in the grid wires 7 by the electron beams is communicated to an amplifier and phase shifter 10, as before, for generating three phase color synchronizing signals. Keyed multivibrators 17 controlled by the line sweep sawtooth or other convenient voltage are supplied, as before, and produce color shift signals for cyclically changing the colors to be transmitted. The electronic sweep combines the color synchronizing signals and color shifting signals, as before, and its output controls the beam control V, 20, etc., so as to stop the two beams 51 and 52 on a pair of strips for a certain time interval, and then move them rapidly to corresponding strips of the next set, the time required in this movement being only or so of the total. A blanking pulse is also communicated to grid 25 through line 26,

as before, and reduces the strength of the electron beam to a very small fraction of normal, so that beam 'strength sufficient to generate a signal in grid 7 may be maintained but the video output during movement of the beamswill be negligible. As will be apparent, when more than threel component colors are to betransmitted, a larger number of electron beams may beemployed without essential change in the circuits and involving only the provision of an additional electron gun or guns and circuits for feeding the output thereof to the emitter. The typical openation may be line sequential so that, for example, in scanning the first line the red and green strips are scanned, in sc-ann'ing the second line the blue and red strips and in scanning the third line the green and blue strips, etc. Any desired eld sequential, point sequential or other system may, however, be used, the color omitted varying cyclically instead of thecolor transmitted so varying. i A

The operation of the receiver will, in general, be clear from the foregoing description. The amplifier .and phase shifter 110, electron switchl Wr, etc., keyed multivibrator 1117 and beam control W120, etc. oper-ate the same 4as the corresponding elements described in connection with' Figure 3, and the picturetube is similar, except that two electron guns 153 and 154 for producing the two beams 151 and 152are provided. The video output is applied .to control grids, of v,the tubes W1 .and W2 ythrough lines 170 and 171 and the output developed across the two resistance p-aths 155 and 156 is applied to lthe cathodes 153 and 154 for varying the beam strength of the two beams. Connection from the resistance network to the voltage divider is indicated at E. A blank'ing voltage is applied to grid 125 through line 126, as before, and suppresses the beams to -a low value so as to produce negligible effect on the picture while still generating the synchronizing signal in the grid wires 107. The operation of the beams 151 and 152 in scanning the screen 106 will, of course, correspond to the operation of the beams 51 and 52 in 'the camera tube and wi-ll, hence, vary according to the type of scanning sequence employed.

Since the width of an individual color strip may be only about one third of the vertical width of a line being scanned, the image produ-ced may be without sensible dot or screen formation, and in fact the fineness of screen structure may be far in excess of what is required. This -being so, it is possible .to ditfuse the image somewhat in the horizontal direction so as to superpose and blend the colors, without sacrificing sharpness of image. Thus a thin screen interposed between the image screen and the viewer and having either rulings or a lenticular ridge formation parallel to the color strips may, in some cases, be used to advantage.

What is claimed is:

1. `In a color television system, and in combination, a screen having a cyclically repeated plurality of sets of parallel strips, each set comprising strips corresponding in number and in predetermined order `to a number of component colors to be reproduced, means for scanning the said screen by moving an electron beam transversely of the strips for successively scanning the lines, means responsive to the electron beam for generating a signal in timed relation to the scanningthereby of the strips, and color selecting means controlled by the said signal and operating to decrease Ithe scanning speed of the beam over predetermined strips of the said sets.

2. The combination according `to claim 1, comprising lalso means responsive lto rthe electron beam for suppressing the video signal during the passage of the beam over the remaining strips of the sets.

3. The combination according to claim 2, in which the means for suppressing video signal comprises means for -blanking the beam.

4. The combination according to claim 1, comprising means for so generating and controlling the movement ce'ssi'on@ oflr lines; ea'cli of? whichl follows a predetermined path andc'rosses the elemental picture areas of a succession` of suchl sets, which areas correspond' .to a predeterminedicornponentcolor; inorde'r'and alsovin-ter-mediate' areas not` corresponding to the .said predetermined comp`onent\co1or,.means responsive to the electron beam for generating a signal' in timedrelation to the scanning thereby ofV the sets of elements, and color intensifying lmeanscontr'ol'led 4by the-said: signal and operating to decrease thev scanningy speed ofthe beam over the elementscorresponding to a predetermined component color and to increase the scanning speed -of the beam in its passage between elements, whilerconfiningthe scanning movement of .the beam' tothe predetermined path;

6. The combination according to claim 5, comprising also means responsive to the' electron beam for suppressing the video vsignal during the passage of the beam over the remaining: elements.

7." The combination according :to-claim 6, inwhich theV 8 means; forv suppressing;k video signal comprises means for. blanking.the-beam;

8; The combination according' to'fclam? 5, comprisingmeans for so generating andI control-lingi the movement of a plurality of electron b'eamsfor scanning aN correspondingA plurality of sets of elements simultaneously,

9. In ancolor'television'system; andincombination,r a screen having a@ eyclie'ally repeatedy pluralityy of sets of elemental picture areas, each set comprising setsof ele-- mental picture areasl corresponding: in.- number and in predetermined order to a number of componentcolors to be reproduced, means for scanning the'fsaid'screen by moving an electron beam across the sameffor successivelyscanning the` lines, and color-'selecting meransv operating to decrease 'the scanningspeed ofthe be'amfoverf the elements corresponding to. a'predetermined component: color.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 431,115 Goldsmith' Nov. 18, 1947 24912812' Hman Dec. 13, 1949 2,'545l325 Weimer Mar. 13,1951' 2,587,074 Sziklai Feb. 26, 1952' 2262]',245' Kell Dec; 9,. 1'9152. 2,634,326 Goodrich Apr. 7; 1953i 1642158551 Bradleyl July 7; 1953 2,681,381 Creamer June 15, 1954 2,689,269* Bradley Sept.' 1'4, 1954" 

